Page 71 of Married to the Highland Devil
After he left her chamber, Amelia lay there for a while, smiling to herself. She held the flower Duncan had brought her close to her chest and fell asleep with it resting there.
The next time she opened her eyes, she was no longer in the warmth of her bed sheets. A strong hand was clasped over her mouth, so she could not scream, and strong arms carried her.
She kicked and forced her legs to move, hoping she could escape, but nothing she did worked. He was stronger than her and also quiet as he walked around the castle without anyone noticing. It was probably the middle of the night. The dead silence in the air proved that.
Most of the guards were asleep as they had finished their night watch, and Amelia feared no one would be able to save her.
She tried to scream for Duncan as tears rushed down her cheeks.
Her first instinct was to struggle. Wild terror paralyzed all of her nerves as she fought, wanting to free herself from whoever her captor was.
Amelia’s lungs struggled to get air, and panic clawed at her throat. The stranger holding her captive soon set her on the top of the stairs, and in the next second before she could move or scream, he pushed her.
All Amelia remembered was the loud ringing in her ears as she stumbled down the stairs. Every angle of her body that hit the ground as she fell ached, and the darkness came to offer oblivion from the pain drowning her senses.
The last thought on her mind as she gave in to the pain was Duncan. Amelia wished she got the chance to tell him what she had really wanted to say when they had been in the village.
She wished she got the chance to tell him she loved him, and that she would always love him.
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Duncan walked into the keep at the same time he heard the scream and the rumbling down the stairs. He lurched forward without thinking and hurried to check what the sound was.
Amelia lay on the ground now, and a masked guard stood at the top of the stairs watching her bleed out on the ground.
“Stop right there,” Duncan yelled at the top of his voice, but the assailant chose that moment to run.
Duncan was torn between chasing after the man or running to Amelia. A few of his guards rushed forward when he called for them, and he ordered, “Seal the castle and find me that masked guard. Now!”
When those guards hurried away, Duncan bent over and picked Amelia off the ground with ease.
“Amelia,” he whispered as her head rolled to one side, and her lips parted. “Amelia… Get me the healer now! I need the healer!”
Duncan’s chest squeezed till he felt a pain that blinded him and made him breathless. Tears blurred his vision, and he hated to think of what this meant. He could not lose Amelia. Not now. Not like this.
He made it to the chamber where she always worked, and Elijah came in some seconds later.
“She fell down the stairs,” Duncan said to the healer as he got to work.
Duncan could not stay still. Amelia was unconscious, and she was bleeding from the side of her head. He could not risk losing her now.
“What is happenin’?” he queried when the healer kept cleaning the wound on the side of Amelia’s head and feeding her a tonic he came with. “Is she breathin’?”
Duncan moved to the side of the bed to check her pulse for himself. He needed to hear it and feel her breath to know she was alive. It was the only way he could get his mind to stop racing. When he pressed his ear to her chest and did not hear or feel anything, his panic rose.
“She isnae breathin’… Why is she nay breathin’?”
“My Laird,” Elijah whispered, “she is alive… Her pulse is weak, but it is there. I need to treat her.”
Duncan moved away from the bed again, and this time, he ran his fingers through his hair in a rush.
What do I do now?
He knew the answer to that question. He had to keep himself calm, and the only way he could do that was to find the monster who did this and punish him with all his wrath.
Duncan made it out of the chamber, leaving the healer with Amelia. He ran out of the keep to find his guards dragging a man with them. Whoever had taken Amelia to the top of the stairs and pushed her down had to be someone familiar with the grounds of his castle.
The assailant was dressed like a McLennan guard, but he was wearing a mask. Duncan knew he must have mingled with the rest of the guards by now. It was the only way he could escape.
